Drinking coffee, smoking may protect against cholangitis

July 8, 2014

(HealthDay)—Coffee consumption and smoking might protect against the development of primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC), according to a study published in the June issue of Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology.

Ina Marie Andersen, from the Oslo University Hospital in Norway, and colleagues distributed a questionnaire to 240 patients with PSC as well as 245 randomly chosen individuals from the Norwegian Bone Marrow Donor Registry (control subjects).

The researchers found that a lower proportion of patients with PSC were daily coffee drinkers than control subjects, both currently (76 versus 86 percent; odds ratio [OR], 0.52; P = 0.006) and at the age of 18 years (35 versus 49 percent; OR, 0.58; P = 0.003). Differences among men mainly accounted for these associations. In patients, 20 percent were ever (current or former) daily smokers, compared with 43 percent of control subjects (OR, 0.33; P < 0.001). There was an association between ever daily smoking before PSC diagnosis and older age at diagnosis (42 versus 32 years; P < 0.001). Among females, fewer patients ever used hormonal contraception versus controls (51 versus 85 percent; P < 0.001). There was a strong correlation in women between increasing number of children before the diagnosis of PSC and increasing age at diagnosis (P < 0.001).

"Coffee consumption and smoking might protect against development of PSC," the authors write.

Related Stories

Regular consumption of coffee is associated with a reduced risk of primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC), an autoimmune liver disease, Mayo Clinic research shows. The findings were being presented at the Digestive Disease ...

(HealthDay)—Smoking cessation correlates with a reduction in the risk of cataract extraction, although the risk persists for more than 20 years, according to a study published online Jan. 2 in JAMA Ophthalmology.

(HealthDay)—Six percent of patients with colorectal cancer (CRC) have interval cancers, which develop within six to 60 months of colonoscopy, according to a study published in the April issue of Gastroenterology.

(HealthDay)—Patients with self-detected primary melanoma who have an established dermatologist are more likely to have thinner lesions at the time of diagnosis, according to research published in the May issue of the Journal ...

Recommended for you

A two-step regimen of experimental vaccines against Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) prompted immune responses in mice and rhesus macaques, report National Institutes of Health scientists who designed the vaccines. ...

Conventional wisdom has it that the more people stay within their own social groups and avoid others, the less likely it is small disease outbreaks turn into full-blown epidemics. But the conventional wisdom is wrong, according ...

Researchers from the University of Sydney have painted the most detailed picture to date of major infectious diseases shared between wildlife and livestock, and found a huge gap in knowledge about diseases which could spread ...

The first genetic study of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) to include individuals from diverse populations has shown that the regions of the genome underlying the disease are consistent around the world. This study, conducted ...